Hope
by AJ Cooper
Summary: I was listening to "Hope" by Nathan Wagner, and so I was inspired to write this. All characters belong to me, except those that are initially on Fireman Sam.


**Believe it or not, I was inspired by "Hope" by Nathan Wagner. And yes... I sobbed my fucking heart out, it was that relatable. So in honor of it, here I have Ellie Phillips with her family and my OCs, Trinity and her Aunt Susan with Penny, Sam, Steele, Helen, Mandy, Elvis, Boyce, and Arnold. WARNING! SERIOUS SOBBING AT THE END!**

* * *

_Another day, another fire,_ Ellie sighed tiredly. She got into her car parked at the fire station and began to drive off. _Another night of visiting my mom_, with a shaky breath and teary eyes, Ellie pulled off to the side of the road, laid her head down on the steering wheel. She allowed a few tears to fall, before sitting back up and continued to drive, not realizing that her team was watching.

"What's wrong, Sam? Why is Ellie crying?" Elvis asked.

Sam sighed, after recently finding out about what happened when Ellie came out. He turned to the raven-haired firefighter, and gently put a hand on his shoulder. "Her mother was killed several years ago, by her father...on this night" His voice shook, as he looked at Penny, balling her fist in her mouth to stop from crying.

Elvis began to tear up. He never knew one of his new best friends, was going through such a tragedy. He immediately set to the kitchen, on a new mission. He motioned Arnold and Helen to come over and help. Knowing whatever Elvis was going to make in the kitchen, was going to be for their teammate, Sam and Penny sat down on the couch, to discuss whatever was happening.

On the other side of town, Trinity sat on her bed, her legs crisscrossed, her wolf pup Alabaster, sleeping with his head on her lap. Her mind was with her at the moment. Then at the slightest possible chance, she turned and saw Ellie's Range Rover parked at the cemetery. She knew Ellie was there to visit her mom. But something was wrong, tonight. She saw a bottle be brought to her lips and remembered Penny doing something similar when they thought they were going to lose Helen.

With a gasp of realization, she slid off her bed and ran into her aunt's and Ellie's room.

* * *

Ellie took another swig from the bottle of whiskey she snagged from Steele's office. Right when she wiped the excess alcohol from her chin, she finally broke down in tears and fell to her hands and knees, sobbing. Everything came rushing back. Her being happy with her girlfriend, her mother being happy for her, then dying protecting her from her furious father...All of it was too much to bear.

"I'm so sorry..." She kept saying, balling blades of grass and stray dirt in her hands, bringing them up to her face, allowing her tears to wet them. She felt ashamed for not protecting her, for being too damn weak to do anything as her father smashed her face in with the fucking frying pan.

Light enveloped her, but she didn't care. She didn't hear car doors slamming shut, footsteps running her. She didn't care to look up as her childhood friends hugged her from either side, as Susan hugged her from behind, Trinity...hugging her neck. She didn't care about any of that, as she cried as loud as she could, the anger at herself, the pain at the loss of her mother, all came rushing back to her.

Sam and Steele allowed their own tears to fall at the sight. Their bravest firefighter, broken. Broken and lost in a cruel world, that took her mother from her. Steele remembered the day she came in, how proud of herself she was. It wasn't until much later, after hat happened with Nathan...Everything clicked into place for him and Sam.

Penny remembered doing a similar thing at Helen's bedside at the Newtown Hospital. She was too drunk on grief, on the anger for herself, she didn't realize how lucky she was to have Helen. That luck brought her wife back from the dead. Brought Mandy's mother back from the dead. She saw what Ellie herself seen. The anger at being weak, not protecting your family, losing a part of yourself as a loved one is stripped from you. Penny put her head on the back of Ellie's shoulder, and her body began to shake.

"Call it in, Sam. He needs to be here, too" Steele ordered silently. Sam nodded quietly walked away, wiping away his tears. Steele turned back to Ellie and walked over. The others moved to let them both be. He kneeled on one knee and softly patted his firefighter's shoulder.

Ellie whipped her head up and looked at him. Seeing such an understanding in his senior officer's eyes, caused her to sob once more. Steele always saw him as a father figure to his firefighters, and Ellie was certainly no different. He held her in his arms, silently crying.

The small group heard a car pull up, but Ellie didn't bother looking up. She knew who it was, the one father figure she tried so hard to impress, Fire Department Chief Boyce. She put a hand to her head, pulling at her hair. The Fire Chief put a hand on her shoulder and did something the entire Fire Brigade had never seen, except for Arnold. Tears spilled from his eyes, as he looked at the grave of his favorite firefighter's mother.

"Thank you" The croaking voice made all of the firefighters, smile. Ellie sat on her knees, her eyes, unblinking. Sam motioned Arnold and Penny to gently lift her up. Ellie accepted the help and got up, never taking her eyes off her mother's grave.

"Elvis made something for you, Ellie" Trinity pointe at the raven-haired firefighter, who smiled. He walked over with a Honey cake. Ellie noticed there was a piece cut in a small square.

"I made this for you, with some help from Helen and Arnold. This little piece is for her," He pointed at the square, a loving smile not leaving his lips. Ellie let lose a teary chuckle and enveloped Elvis in a hug.

"She'll love it, Elvis. Honey Cake was her favorite" She smiled. The firefighters and Boyce sat down by Abigail's grave, with a slice of Honey Cake. Ellie put her mother's slice down for her first, before taking her's and sitting down with the others.

The rest of the night was spent in laughs and jokes. Ellie looked up at the starry sky and smiled. For the first time in so long, she finally felt at peace. She could've sworn she saw her mother smile at her, and she was sure that Susan, Arnold, and Penny saw it too.

That was when she realized, she had a family. With the brigade and everyone else right here, in PontePandy.


End file.
